I caught the Parlor Mob play the very compact Mercury Lounge back in 2008, as an opener for The London Souls. There weren't too many in the room but a few minutes into the first song, it felt as if I was in Madison Square Garden circa 1975.
This band was gargantuan in every way. Their riffs, their attack, their drum sound. Everything reminded me of all the bands I loved and missed- Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath. They pulled it off.
I bought the full length debut and was not disappointed. Today's Song Of The Day is from that first LP. Following their second effort, 2011's "Dogs," the New Jersey band took a break after relentlessly touring and now new music surfaces after a three year wait. Check it out.
The new record, "Cry Wolf" gets released this fall. Catch them if you can.
Tour Dates:
8/30 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
9/04 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
9/11 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater
9/18 – Boston, MA @ TT the Bears
11 comments:
Rush-like in a good way. Not sure it's for me,but it certainly sounds better than merely competent.
Definitely will be checking them out at the Stone Pony in August!
Thanks Sal.
I had coffee this morning with a friend to whom I had forwarded that recent post about "schlock." I said my main musical regret was being a snob and being closed minded to all sorts of music back in the day.
There might have been a time when I would have turned up my nose at music someone told me reminded them of Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath.
Now with my old age zen world view ... I see what you mean about Parlor Mob and I like it very much.
Next I better try those green eggs and ham!
Nice. I heard a song by a band Buzz the other day that similarly blew my hair back.
I've waited all day for someone to speak up on disliking the track (so I didn't have to be the negative one for once) but no one has spoken up so…
The Parlor Mob track is really annoying. It sounds like everything that turned "Rock & Roll" into "Rock" which steered us off into the lowest common denominator "Corporate Rock" of the 1970's & 80's. Soulless and unimaginative.
Is there anyone who agrees with me?
Allan R.
"It sounds like everything that turned "Rock & Roll" into "Rock" which steered us off into the lowest common denominator "Corporate Rock" of the 1970's & 80's."
Allan, "rock" is not a sin. "Corporate Rock" may be, but I can't see lumping dozens of legendary bands that have an obvious influence on the Parlor Mob...the three I mentioned, for starters...with the soulless creatures of the 80s.
Sal, your correct:
The soulless bands of the 70's & 80's should have their own different designations (the decades did sound very different from each other), but whichever decade they are from their music drains all the pleasure of Rock & Roll for me. I'm a Roots Rocker at heart and when the music strays too far from their roots I get little pleasure from it.
Also I think it's a generational thing. Those of us who fell in love with Rock & Roll in the 50's & 60's (and remain hardcore R&R fans) hear/see music very differently from the 70's generation. Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath sound derivative to me while fresh to you. (I have an incredible love/hate relationship with Led Zeppelin which could be a whole 'nother discussion sometime.) The Parlor Mob doesn't connect to anything that sound fresh or engaging to me. Not truly bad just not in the least bit interesting.
When a person has engaged in listening to music as much and intensely as we have, we simply know what we like, don't like, what we are willing to give an extra listen to and what music we will quickly pass on.
Can I be wrong? Yes! (I hated The Velvet Underground upon first exposure in 1967, by 1970 I thought they were brilliant, I still do. I felt the same way about The Grateful Dead.) But more often I'm correct in my assessment, at least for me.
Your turn, this is fun to talk music with you!
Allan R.
PS: You can blame some of my musical tastes on Steve Simels, my buddy since the 1950's.
I really like this, although I didn't expect to. I saw Lizzy and Zeppelin :-)
Anyway what I was wondering was where this track came from? I checked both of their albums and I don't see it on either of them. I have just bought Dogs. Thanks for the Heads Up!
@Bulletins--
This is a new track that will appear on "Cry Wolf" this summer.
@Allen
"Those of us who fell in love with Rock & Roll in the 50's & 60's (and remain hardcore R&R fans) hear/see music very differently from the 70's generation. Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath sound derivative to me while fresh to you."
I have always felt there was a huge difference between liking and disliking something & thinking something is good or bad, or to use your words fresh or derivative.
It seems a bit contradictory to love music that doesn't stray far from its roots and then not like something because its derivative. We may be a generation apart Allan, but I did not discover Led Zeppelin in 1979. Led Zeppelin II was in my household the week it came out and though I may have been too young to fully understand where it came from and who these guys were stealing from , it was no less exciting to hear music I had never heard before.
The Jimmy Plagiarist debates have been done to death and I am always in his camp, simply because I don't hear LZ as derivative. On the contrary, I think they turned all music upside down with their sound and arrangements. I won't defend Page & Plant for not giving credit to all they stole from lyrically and occasionally musically, but side by side, these songs in question sound nothing like each other. To me, that's fresh!
"I hated The Velvet Underground upon first exposure in 1967, by 1970 I thought they were brilliant, I still do. I felt the same way about The Grateful Dead."
Same here. These are two very unique bands who have influenced many, and few have come close to what they've achieved. But I just can't stop there.
Maybe the Parlor Mob to your ears is just another band copping riffs and rhythms that have been done to death. To my ears, there are too many second and third rate bands who try to be fresh and fail miserably. Hearing a more than competent band of musicians take something familiar and give me more of what I like, like The Parlor Mob, is far more entertaining.
Thanks Sal
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